In a popular commercial, a German coast guard official is at his desk while an English voice comes over the radio.  “We’re sinking! We’re sinking!” they shout, to which the German replies, “What are you sinking about?”  The screen then shows information about how to learn English.  There are varieties of different languages and dialects which can cause confusion in the communication.  The same is true of the programming world, where multiple scripting languages can also hinder communication.  Recently it appears as though a growing number of developers have been using PHP to code their sites and web applications. In this article we are going to discuss why many developers embrace PHP and how it affects our Internet browsing experience.

It is  Open Source 

One perk of using an open source system is that you do not have to pay any money for it.  Whereas some closed source systems will sap you for cash, there are bigger advantages to using open source software like PHP.  Since the code is so accessible, the language is constantly evolving as people develop new utilities and post them in online forums.  This way developers do not have to figure everything out for themselves, but can share ideas with each another.

Ease of Use

Some things may be difficult to figure out; thankfully PHP is not one of those things.  The coding language is simple which means that it is easy to learn even without prior programming knowledge.  This not only empowers newer users, but also lets new scripts get off the production line faster.  Complex applications are much easier to develop with this language, especially when compared to older scripting languages.

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• Easy-peasy PHP
• PHP 101: PHP For the Absolute Beginner

Dynamic Web Pages

Despite its simplicity, PHP is a robust coding platform.  Facebook.com is coded using PHP and programmatically transformed onto a C++ platform.  There is posting, photo browsing, a search bar, liking and commenting options, etc.   Each of these functions could be served by PHP, but gains a technical advantage due to its compatibility with C++.  PHP has been described by users to be a dynamic and the scripting language is often chosen for its flexibility.

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• Famous websites that use PHP and/or MySQL

Greater Interactivity

These days, webmasters are hiring developers to make their websites more interactive.  The intent has evolved beyond simple, brochure style websites.  In general, people respond more positively to an experience if they feel as though they are a part of it.  Static content, like plain writing or images, makes the user feel as though they are on the outside looking in.  Interactivity and movement on a web page helps to draw them in.  PHP has a spectacular server side scripting ability which means that while the files are in use, they can still perform specific actions based on input.  An user could input the listed price of his home and find out how much mortgage would be, or “like” a song that is playing and recommended it to others. With PHP server side scripting is easier, which makes the websites more interactive.

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• Interactivity in Web Design: A Beginner’s Guide 
• Build Your Own Database Driven Web Site Using PHP & MySQL

Efficiency

Downtime is one of the worst thing a website can experience.  As a result, developers will stress test their sites, and be mindful of what loads their creations can handle.  PHP can handle heavy traffic websites on a daily basis during peak hours, which makes it an ideal candidate as a scripting language.  One script can drive 60 pages of content which makes it among the most efficient, and a developer favorite.

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• PHP performance tips
• A How to on Optimizing PHP
  

Flexibility

The strongest feature that PHP offers is most likely its compatibility with most operating systems and environments.  Using PHP a developer can create applications from any computer that will run on any computer.  For instance, they can develop a program on Mac and transfer it to a linux server.  PHP is also compatible with web languages like XML and HTML which makes its code easily transferable to other projects.  Due to PHP’s flexibility it is possible to create animations, movies, graphics, and pictures and spread them over the web.

Going back to the question, why is PHP so heavily used by today’s developers?  Mainly because it has advantages as an open source system, it has a good number of options, and it’s easy to use.  Being an open source system, PHP is free to use and lets developers share their ideas.  Meanwhile, it can serve a variety of different purposes which give developers options when working on a project.  Finally it is compatible with many operating systems and environment which makes the language more flexible.  All in all, a high-quality easy to use language is difficult to turn down.

Lead image credit

Cameron Albin is a student at Duke University, an intern at the webhosting company A Small Orange, and a native Texan. He has written for several blogs on topics ranging from Joomla security to finding free images online. He is young, but learning fast.